Fielding the best all-time Steeler LBs

First of all, you have to decide how you are rating them: best ever careers, or best in their primes. For our purposes here I am going with "best at their prime" evaluations.

Also, for purposes here, going to assume they are playing in a 3-4.

Lloyd Lambert Kirkland Harrison

I am sorry, but those are the best LB, all-time, in their prime, Steeler LBs.

Harrison had a realtively short career as a dominant player, but the years he did have, he was better than any LB we have ever had. He won DMVP for cripes sake, and should have won Super Bowl MVP for the longest TD play in SB history. He is a wrecking machine. He doesn't just "get you to the ground" when he tackles, you, he punishes you and hurts everyone he touches. He the league not decided that OTs could hold him around the neck and head every play, who knows what kind of sack totals he would have put up.

In Kirkland's prime - before he got too fat, he was an amazing player. He could move and cover for his size, with a size and speed combination that we had never seen before.

Lambert has to be included, end of story The 6'-4" terror was relatively skinny, but you would never know it, by the carnage he brought on the field. He was among the best ILB to ever play the game.

I know I have Lloyd playing on the wrong side, but I had to include him. Had be been on those 1970's teams, he would be just as famous as any of the Steel Curtain crew. He would probably been as well known as Mean Joe and Lambert. He was that good.

Other notables: Ham, Russell, Merriweather, Porter, Greene, Brown, Gildon, Timmons, Farrior.

 

I could see qb's and rb's calling in sick if they had to play against that group.

 

Tough call, but my gut goes with (R-L) Harrison, Lambert, Farrior, Ham.

 

Can't really go wrong with either of these groups. I thought of putting Farrior in there over Kirkland. But I just couldn't leave Lloyd off the unit. Ham was very solid as can be, but Lloyd put the fear of God into opposing QBs and RBs. Push comes to shove, I take the LB who scares the poop out of people.

 

I like Lloyd, don't get me wrong, but I'll take Ham. He was quiet, unassuming, and probably the smartest linebacker ever to play the game. Talk about technically sound. The guy made no mistakes! DL would have loved him. Ham was a much better athlete than people give him credit for too. He could tackle and cover everything from a TE to a WR. I've got to put that guy in the starting lineup.

 

Like I said, you can't go wrong with either choice. I was too young to appreciate Ham's play compared to Lloyd. So, that could be impacting my choice as well. I remember watching Lloyd do his thing, and he was fantastic.

 

Is it any surprise that you're going with Lloyd and I'm going with Ham given our monikors, lol? I saw them both play and you can't go wrong with either. I'd give the edge to Lloyd on pass rush ability but when it comes to all around performance, to include dropping into coverage, football IQ, etc., I'd give the edge to Ham. Good discussion and Steeler linebackers is one one of my favorite topics.

 

I don't know about the positions but the best 4 for me are as follows.....ham, lambert, Russell, Kirkland.

I think for some reason andy always gets overlooked

mike Merriweather was pretty good on some bad teams

 

Yea, agree on monikers, lol. I just watched an NFL films thing on Lambert and it was awesome. The move he did on Dallas player after he petted Gerilla on head after missed FG was beyond classic. It was a great moment in Steeler history, as was Harrison's destruction of Browns fan who ran on the field. Just awesome.

 

Lloyd, Nickerson, Lambert, Greene.

Backups: Merriweather, Kirkland, Cole , Gildon.

 

I gotta have some backups, too.

Left to right:

Greene, Lambert, Ham, Harrison

Backups:

Lloyd, Kirkland, Farrior, Lloyd

I don't know if Lloyd ever played the left side, so Kevin Greene gets the nod. He and Harrison would make for one hell of a pass rush. Lloyd still sees the field. I'd swap him in wherever and just tell him to go crush somebody and try not to draw too many flags. Maybe let him have one per game.

Kirkland is the extra man on goal line and covers kickoffs and punts.

 

KG and Harrison would give qb's PTSD. It would be awesome and I'd love to see it.